Process of producing printing surfaces and products thereof



June 18, 1929. J. K. SNYDER 1 1,717,946

PROCESS OF PRODUCING PRINTINO SURFACES AND PRODUCTS THEREOF Filed Nov. 29, 1927 45 surfaces in each reproduction,

I applied to curved surfaces.

Patented- June 18, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

uoonxfismnn, or GREENPOINTQNEW YORK, ASSIGNOR To A. e. HORN COMPANY, A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING- ;PRINTING SURFACES AND PRODUCTS THEREOL' Application filed November 29, 1927. Serial No. 236,596.

M invention relates particularly to a process or reproducing by printing the grain of woods of various kinds, and the product thereof.

' The object of my invention is to provide a process, and product thereof, for obtaining printing surfaces by the reproduction of the grain of various kinds of woods, whereby the grain ofthe woodmay be applied to articles 10 of any desired kind, not only at a much small er cost, but with a much more exact reproduction of the actual grain of the wood than has been possible in previous processes. The commercially used methods previously provided for this purpose involved the making of a negative by the use of a plastic or molten material or electroplating or photography. Some of said processes required the etching of metal plates as the negatives and the making of a positive from the negative.

more, in the it has been ound that the depression and valleys-caused by the etching are not sulficiently deep to hold enough ink for faithfully reproducing the grain in exact detail when the ink is transferred to a roller and from the roller to the object to receive the' grain. Also, the metal etching process is not adapted for application to curved surfaces, such as moldings. In all the said previous processes there has been a loss of value and detail so as to lica of the original and said processes, fur thermore, required very expensive equipment, materials and workmanship. The procedure in such previous processes always has been to draw, engrave, photograph, or mold a .fac-simile on a surface, to be transferred to stone, gelatine," metal or some other medium from which copies are to be printed or otherwise reproduced.

This invention comprises a method of using the grained wood itself as the negative so as to exactly reproduce the contours "of wood thus copying the same with a fidelity and accuracy never attained before. The equipment used in my process is inexpensive, highly skilled labor is not'required, depressions or valleys are secured of suflicient depth for the roller to pick up from, the surface sufficient ink to obtain therefrom an exact reproduction of the grain, and the process may be readily with my process it is found that not onlyis Further- I revious metal etching process prevent obtaining an exact rep In connection sufficient ink picked up from the surface, but, due to the somewhat yielding character of the latter, enough ink is taken up by the roller to actually produce a raised. printin surface when desired in the final printe product.

In general, my invention involves the production of a negative of the grain on a wooden plate or molding of wood, which ma, be followed by deepening the valleys and depressions in the grain thereof so that the detail of the same willbe faithfully reproduced.

My invention is capable of being carried out in many different ways, but by way of illustration I shall describeonl certain ways of carrying out the same hereinafter.

' By way of illustration I have shown certain portions of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which A Fig. 1 is a plan view of a veneered .panel showing the my process;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same before treatment;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the same shown after the etching and in process of having a portion of the grain brushed out;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the resultant panel after the treatment of brushing out'and filling with ink has been completed;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the same after having had the ink introduced; and

'Fig. 6 is a plan view of the inked anel showing a portion of the ink removed t etc from by a transfer roller;

My process may be applied to the reproduction 'of the grain of any desired kind of wood, but it has application especially to hard woods, such, for example, as mahogany, walnut, oak, etc. Preferabl "a veneer 1 is made of one' of these woods of s ness, as, for instance one inch, on a backing of any other desired kind of wood, such, for instance, as cross sectioned pine 2, in order to obtain a wooden panel or molding in this manner that will not warp or distort in the course of thetreatment. The veener may be made from quarter-sawed sections or any other desirable cuts from the 10 and then seasoned. The panel or molding 1s placed in a suitable form and is provided with a smooth level surface by abrasion or smoothingdown with any desired tools. The surface is then treated w th a material which will partially ninutest' same before being subjected to uflicient thickremove or soften or change parts of the wood grain so as .to enable the latter to be brushed out with a wire or other stifl brush 3, having bristles of any desired material and of any desired length and degree of hardness, thus leaving depressions or valleys 4 of good depth "of caustic soda in 100 partsby weight of wateriwhich may be applied-to the panel or molding for 8 hours. In the case'of mahogany, a 99% strength by. weight of acetic acid in water maybe applied for 4 hours. After the softened parts of the wood have been brushed out in the manner above del scribed, any excess of the softening material applied may be removed or neutralized so that any further etching action ceases: For example, where caustic soda has been used a 20% strength by weightof hydrochloric acid in water may be applled for a few minutes to neutralize the same, followedby washing in any desired way'to remove the-resultingma- -terials. In the case' where acetic acid has 7 been used as the etching liquid, a 3% strength applied by weight ofcaustic soda in. water may be thereto for a few minutes, followed by washin with water. Also, if desired," it will be'un erstood that the etching materials may .be removed either by brushing'with water or an organic liguid such as naphtha or turpentine, if desir After the valleys or depressions have been produced in the wood, in the above manner, it may be found that the negative thus 'obtained is somewhat soft'for continued hard usage to withstand. the wear of the ink scraper, and in that event a hardening treat-- ment may be applied so'as to harden the wood and thus enable innumerable; impressions to be obtained without the ink being absorbed by the wood. For this purpose, for example, I 'may apply to the .negative a.10% strength solution by'weight of silver ni'trate'in water, or a 10% strength by weight of bichromate J of potash in water, which, after having been applied 'to the negative may be precipitated or fiocculated by the addition of an acid, base or salt" solution, or by heat. Inithecase where 'water-proo silver nitrate is used, this may be done, for example, by applying a, 10% strength by weightsolution in water. r

1f; desired, furthermore either with or without the previous hardening-treatment, I may applgna treatment to the negative for g the same so as to prevent L warping, and distortion, as, for example, by

providing therein a metallic salt of afatty acid, such as aluminum stearate, witha suitable binder, such as a resin or vegetable oil or cellulose ester carried in a solvent such as benzol, zylol, naphtha, turpentine, petroleum, etc. Such a water-proofing composition might be, for example, comprised of 6 parts by weight'of aluminum stearate, 2 parts by weight of colophony resin, and 100 parts by weight of benzol.

The'graining plate is then mounted on a specially constructed bed, a pliable bed, such as a mixture .of glue, 'glycerine and formaldehyde, which acts in the double capacity of a cushion between the plate and the bed of sufficient resilience necessary for good reproduction and for the purpose of preventing the infiltration of moisture between the plate and the bed so as to prevent warping and twisting.

Thereafter, the negative obtained as above may have ink 5 of any desired color applied to the surface of the same with the aid of an ink scraper, so as to fill the depressions present therein, and a transfer roller 6 may be run. over the surface so as to pick up. the ink from the negative. Owing to the somewhat yielding character of the wood as compared with the metal. negative, it will be found that the roller will pick up the design of the V ain from the wood with the greatest fait fulness and detail. Thereupon the roller carrying the design of the grain in the ink, which has been received from the negative, may be applied to any surface'provided for receiving the grain, as, 'for example, metal, paper, parchment, wood, cement, plaster, etc.

In the above process it will be understood, of course, that many other materials-may be used instead of the materials mentioned hereinabove'mentioned maybe varied wideablein the particular instance. For instance, instead "of the caustic soda anyother one of the known 'alkalies may be used, as, for example, caustic potash, lime,: ammonia, etc.

7 1y, as desired, to suit the conditions applic- Also, instead of the acetic acid any other acid may be 'used,-as, ,for example,'hydrochloric,

nitric, etc. For the neutralizing chemicals used any one of the alkalies may be used for. 1

neutralizingthe etching acid and any one of the acids may be used for. neutralizing the etching alkali. Furthermore, in place of the hardening materials, any other metal salt may be used. Likewise,.'instead of the aluminumstearate mentioned above any other fatty acid salt of a metal may be used. Many other resins may be used instead of the colophony resin above mentioned, and as the vegetable oil 'I may use, for example, linseed oil,

china wood oil, etc. The cellulose ester mentioned ay be cellulose nitrate or acetate, etc. Finally instead of the solvents mentioned I may use any other suitable solvent applicable to the purpose.

Whilel have described my invention above 18 in detail I wish it to be understood that man fibre from a wooden surface to place the grain in relief, by applying an etching material and subjecting it to/a water-proofing treatment and the printing from said surface.

3. The process which comprises producing a printing surface by removing a part of the fibre from a wooden surface of oak to place the grain in relief, by applying caustic soda have hereunto set my hand softened grain followed by neutralization of the etchin material, then hardening the wooden sur ace by the application of a metallic salt, then adding a precipitant and subjecting the surface to a water-proofin treatment with a metallic stearate anda bin er in liquid phase and the printing from said surface.

y as an etching material, then brushing out the 4. A printing surface of wood carrying dci pressions to place the grain of the wood, in relief, and a water-proofed grain.

5. A printin surface of wood carrying de- A/ pressions to p ace the rain of the wood in relief, and a hardene grain impre ated' with a metal salt and water-proofed y the presence of a metallic stearate and a binder.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I

November, 1927. k

' JACOB K. SNYDER.

this 17th day of 

